Large Stripped Scarf

How to do it: 

This Scarf is approximately 160 cm long by 70 cm wide.

I've used 2 colours, one is Retrosaria João 401 and the other is a vintage strawberry coloured yarn I've found (with no ID), but you can replace that by Retrosaria João 920.

Cast on 140 stitches with Retrosaria João 401

*Slip the first stitch in all  the rows.

- Knit (k) the First Row

- Purl (p) the second Row

- P80

- Change colour to Retrosaria João 920 (RJ920) and k2

- Change colour to  Retrosaria João 401 (RJ401) and k18

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k6

- RJ920 k2

- RJ401 k5

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k18

- RJ920 k6

- RJ401 k18

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k5

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k15

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k8

- RJ920 k2

- RJ401 k21

- RJ920 k3

- RJ401 k14

- RJ920 k2

- RJ401 k5

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k15

- RJ920 k5

- RJ401 k12

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k5

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k12

- RJ920 k2

- RJ401 k20

- RJ920 k2

- RJ401 k20

- RJ920 k2

- RJ401 k5

- RJ920 k3

- RJ401 k5

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k12

- RJ920 k5

- RJ401 k12

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k5

- RJ920 k1

- RJ401 k12

- RJ920 k2

- RJ401 k81

- Purl the last Row

I've blocked the scarf and sewn a vintage ribbon with small pom poms on the edge (of the exact same colour as the yarn).

Happy knitting!

Warmer walks

I haven't posted here in a while. The truth is I haven't used my (beloved) camera since I started  to post iphone photos here (a new addiction I must say), but lets be honest: its not the same thing... 

Today, I picked up my camera from the drawer where it's been cocooning for the winter and found all these photos, taken in late October (2014) in Sintra, during one of the many walks...

... (and naps on the grass) enjoyed there. 

I was particularly happy to see these next 2 pics, taken in the gardens of Palacio da Pena, where we found an old abandoned chapel. Really a magical place.

Long live warm(er) days!

* some of the photos were taken by J

A Japanese day to start of the New Year!

Purely by accident we walked by a new Japanese place in town called Taska Kome and decided to go in and have a bite. The owner is a lady called Yuko and the food is delicious. 

It gives you a taste of the other side of Japan's gastronomy besides sushi, though sushi is great as well here.

 The best was saved for last: green tea ice cream with azuki beans and sweet potato pie (surprisingly great).

After lunch we went here to see an exibition called "Boro - the fabric of life" (boro means ragged).
Japan's mended and patched textiles sewn from nineteenth and early twentieth century rags and patches of indigo dyed cotton.

The beautiful arrangement of patches and mending stitches was borne out of necessity and was not planned by the maker.

Boro textiles were stitched in the old farmhouses, often at night, by the light of one dim andon, on the laps of farm women. 

This unconscious creative process has been object of many articles, praising the beauty of this technique which is becoming more and more recognized and admired, certainly beyond the  utilitarian purpose for which they were initially created.

Of course nowadays, there can be a tendency to romanticise these textiles, yet this art of repair did not begin as an abstract philosophy but was born out of pure necessity: “Boro textiles were the domain of the ordinary man and represented a collective, impoverished past.
However their inherent beauty is undeniable.

Happy New Year Everyone!

The Raglanify adventure - Part 2

My second attempt to knit a top-down-sweater was bolder: coloured stripes (noro and beiroa). #Raglanify

The Raglanify adventure - Part 1

This sweater is the first of many to follow.  Its made of cotton, from the top down, with the help of a magical APP #Raglanify. It oficial, I'm hooked!

winter sceneries - contrasts

Cityscapes - streets are dressing up for Christmas. Red and green ornaments, lights everywhere.

Countryscapes - nature is going inward, tunning down its colours. Brown, greyish light.

Discovering Schist Villages

Magical places.
Here.
We will be back :-)